[Onearms"s Host]

I have a lot of the same as you guy's. "I told the Rhivi on the wagon to wait inside the North Gate." Our wagon. The wagon carrying the dead BridgeBurners. First in. Last out....For the last time. Even typing that out reminds me of how hard that hit me when I read the book the first time and the 2nd.

-"It shall be Caladan Brood and Anomander Rake, together one last time." The loss and heartache conveyed through that one line is so very powerful.

The death of WhiskeyJack was one I did not see coming. I guess at that point I did not really know what SE was capable of, I didn't believe for a second that you could kill off a character like him so early in the series. It made me very upset to be honest, I think that I didn't read the rest of that book for at least 2 1/2 months and I didn't start the next one for quite some time. SE darn lost a fan that day.

- The death of Rake was more of a "holy @##$" than sadness. That one I did see coming, and it was a necessary event. Mostly it was the reaction of people around Rake to his death that got to me. Toll the Hounds was an epic book.

Here's a couple of my favorites:

-Anomander Rake,still standing, headtilted back, arms raised, began to dissolve, shred away, as the Gate took hold of him, as it fed upon him, the Son of Darkness. Upon what he desired, what he willed to be.

Witnessing this, Draconus sank to his knees. He finally understood what Anomander Rake had planned, all along- this,wondrous thing.

Staring upward, he whispered, "You ask my forgiveness? When you unravel what I have done, what I did so long ago? When you heal what I wounded, when you mend what I broke?" He raised his voice to a shout, "Rake! There is no forgiveness you must seek- not from me, gods below, not from any of us!"

But there was no way to know if he'd been heard. The man that had been Anomander Rake was scattered into the realm of Kurald Galain, on it's own long sealed path that might- just might- lead to the very feet of Mother Dark.

Who had turned away.

"Mother Dark," Draconus whispered. "I believe you must face him now. You must turn to your children. I believe your son insists. He demands it. Open your eyes, Mother Dark. See what he has done! For you, for the Tiste Andii- but not for himself. See! See and know what he has done!"

-After Daseem kills Rake there is a short line that I find so simple and yet considering who Daseem is it seems apropriate in describing his grief and the realization of the enormity of what he has just done.

-She pointed to one side and Cutter turned.

A man was crouched, slumped against a wall, a sword propped up beside him. He had buried his face in his arms. There is no yelling at Rake for what he made him do, no railing at the unfairness of it all. Just a man who has had everything taken from him quietly accepting another soul crushing burden that he neither deserved nor wanted, or should have been asked to carry. The sheer unfairness of having Daseem carry the guilt that would come from killing Rake is staggering. I just feel such pity and sadness for Daseem, he is one character that I hope SE can give a meaningful and just end to in this series. Sometimes the right thing does happen to the right people.

I also found the entire scene describing the Malazan soldier firing the kill shot from the walls that ended Coltaines life to be very sad, and the scene outside the walls describing the death of Bent as he was trying to get back to Coltaines side has always made me tear up a little.

And finally (for now) the entire hobbling of Hetan in DoD was very sad and depressing. The barbarism described in such detail was frankly a little disturbing and I had a hard time with that. Not that I would have wanted it toned down of course, but the fact remains that was a very, very dark event in this series and to add in the death of Cafal AND Onos just capped it for me.

I truly never though that I could have such emotional ups-and-downs reading books like I have with this series. Truly amazing.

[WhiskeyJackDaniels]

 Onearms"s Host, on 19 February 2010 - 10:24 PM, said:

-"It shall be Caladan Brood and Anomander Rake, together one last time." The loss and heartache conveyed through that one line is so very powerful.

This line didn't do anything for me. I know it seems so epic, but really we know nothing about their history together. I know it is referenced several times how much they've been through, and how they are actually friends, which is so rare for ascendants, but thats really not enough for me. Rake and Brood are on stage together twice in 9 books, once is the burial and the other time they almost fight each other. The fact that Rake is going through a funeral procession and about to be buried is touching, but the line about it being the last time those two will be together seems like an overreaction. It's like taking a poll of what the most badass part in the series is so far and someone saying 'Assail' even though we know essentially nothing about it.

[/rant] awaits neg-rep...

[Illuyankas]

You missed the conversation in the tent in MOI.

[WhiskeyJackDaniels]

Well considering that scene takes place 5 minutes after the near fight in real time I count them as one. And the tent scene is approximately 2 pages long. I'm not saying they haven't been through a lot, just that we haven't seen them do it. Maybe this is a better analogy...When Trull dies, Hedge and Quick Ben and really pissed off and torn up inside. Fiddler is right there too though and doesn't share their emotions at all. Its because he hadn't spent any time with Trull, and didn't create a connection with him. Based on the reactions of his friends he probably inferred that Trull was a good and noble person, but even then he isn't going to stay up at night wracked with grief.

[Grimjust Bearegular]

 Tarcanus, on 19 February 2010 - 08:26 PM, said:

 Grimhilde, on 19 February 2010 - 08:17 PM, said:

But the whole Tool storyline in DoD....damn you, Steven Erikson, damn you,

It kind of is a 'shame on us' thing, though. His name is Tool. We should've known he'd be used, and used poorly throughout the series, haha. Tool is such a tool.

True...but I'm still angry about it.



It's all coming down...

[Baudinsballs]

I'm only up to Toll of the Hounds. So my sad scenes are, BEAK. Not so much his death scene, it's the hundred pages before when he realises he's going to die and accepts it.

I wasn't that sad about WhiskeyJack. I was more, shit happens mate. I did find the scene where the bridgeburners were wiped out in MoI to be a sadder scene, what with Lady Envys comments.

[Eispeis]

There are several powerful scenes mentioned here.

I've cried three times during the series.

Itkovian and Beak made me cry because of Itkovian's unimaginable sacrifice and Beak's release and return to his brother. Those scenes weren't sad, but touching and emotionally powerful.

The only time the series has made me cry because of sheer and utter sadness.

"Honoured Murillo is dead."

The fact that Murillo died didn't register with me, but that Kruppe has a "mask of raw anguish" on his face as he tells Crokus of the death left me devastated. Anything that can make Kruppe that sad is just... sad...

The fact that I was sitting on a train weeping into my book didn't help

[Onearms"s Host]

 WhiskeyJackDaniels, on 19 February 2010 - 11:29 PM, said:

 Onearms"s Host, on 19 February 2010 - 10:24 PM, said:

-"It shall be Caladan Brood and Anomander Rake, together one last time." The loss and heartache conveyed through that one line is so very powerful.

This line didn't do anything for me. I know it seems so epic, but really we know nothing about their history together. I know it is referenced several times how much they've been through, and how they are actually friends, which is so rare for ascendants, but thats really not enough for me. Rake and Brood are on stage together twice in 9 books, once is the burial and the other time they almost fight each other. The fact that Rake is going through a funeral procession and about to be buried is touching, but the line about it being the last time those two will be together seems like an overreaction. It's like taking a poll of what the most badass part in the series is so far and someone saying 'Assail' even though we know essentially nothing about it.

[/rant] awaits neg-rep...

Nope no neg-rep from me. You make a valid point, but for me knowing that they have such a history (even though it hasn't been delved into in any detail) and that they will never be at one anothers side again after all the things they must have seen and been through together, to me is sad. But each to their own for sure.

[Use Of Weapons]

It's a powerful line precisely because of all the action it hints at that has occurred off-stage. We've known since chapter one of GotM that they have been friends and allies from time immemorial. Maybe now Fisher will finish Anomandaris, and we'll get the last lines in a chapter head in CG.

[WhiskeyJackDaniels]

I would have no problem with it occurring off-stage. My problem is that we don't know any of it. What ancient stories and threats do we know that Brood and Rake faced together? All we know is that they were traveling companions, and people say that they went through a lot. My example would be ST/Cotillion and Dassem, we have only 2 scenes of those three being together as well, but when they meet and talk in TtH they fall into the old patterns and relationship they shared in command tents as they were building their Empire. Since I know something about their battles and what they overcame together, I think thats an awesome re-union scene. Brood and Rake is all just platitudes about how they've been friends for so long and been through so much unnamed adversity.

[worry]

Besides all that's been mentioned, I think there's at least one passage wherein we see that Rhulad, part of him, understands what kind of monster he's become.

[D'rek]

 worrywort, on 25 February 2010 - 12:32 PM, said:

Besides all that's been mentioned, I think there's at least one passage wherein we see that Rhulad, part of him, understands what kind of monster he's become.

You mean the scene in RG when Rhulad is alone in the throne room talking to the ghosts of his dead and crying to himself in a half-crazed/half-innocent fashion while the Errant watches? That one probably moved me more than Trull's death, actually.

[worry]

Indeed. I believe...and my memory may be faulty...that there's another scene where Rhulad dies and is back by CG's tent and just doesn't want to resurrect yet again. Or it could just be a point addressing the culmination of emotional wear and tear on him after so many resurrections. If we take Kallor as we see him in Spinnock's eyes, Rhulad is forced by CG to live Kallor's curse out in something less than a decade. And his ambitions, when he was "human", were never so grotesque as Kallor's.

[foolio]

I am saddened by the fact that it looks like Kallor is going to live through the entire series. He seems to have an uncanny ability to make his many enemies forget that he is still alive. (Draconus, Kalam, QB, Nightchill, All of humanity, Anamander forgave him for being a traitor, etc) The only enemy that didnt forget is the most mind numbing weakling of a Soletaken ever created.

[cleantoe]

Everything's already been said. Here is what made me sad:

1) Whiskeyjack's death, because it was foretold so often when he kept refusing to heal his leg.

2) Traveller's reaction to Rake's death, and Rake's subsequent sacrifice inside Dragnipur

3) Itkovian

4) Coltaine and Squint sniping him (easily the saddest in the series for me)

And one that hasn't been mentioned yet...

5) After Karsa kills Rhulad, he goes back to the island and is hesitant to get resurrected again, until the Crippled God tells him that his brother Trull is alive. What a terrible, terrible bastard, that Crippled God.

[knight of shadows]

There are so many scenes in this series that were extremely sad for the one that was real painful was:

Is when Toc turns Tool away from the after life and forces him to become T'lan Imass again while at the same time destroying all of his memories of his friend and replacing what was once a caring soul with hatred

[foolio]

Quote

Is when Toc turns Tool away from the after life and forces him to become T'lan Imass again while at the same time destroying all of his memories of his friend and replacing what was once a caring soul with hatred

which reminds me. why didnt he just tell him that he had saved his children?

[Fox]

 foolio, on 04 March 2010 - 03:11 PM, said:

Quote

Is when Toc turns Tool away from the after life and forces him to become T'lan Imass again while at the same time destroying all of his memories of his friend and replacing what was once a caring soul with hatred

which reminds me. why didnt he just tell him that he had saved his children?

Olar Ethil wouldn't let him?

I think what he said about children was as much resistance as he could manage.

[Wampyry]

For me the saddest scene hasn't happened yet. It will be on the last page of TCG

[Brys Beddict]

Been quite a while since I posted on these boards! Anyways, saddest scenes for me:

- Death of Coltaine. His commitment to his soldiers and the refugees blows my mind, and how he eventually get's shafted outside of Aren cause Pormqual was a little bitch.

- Death of Brys. He stops Rhulad without actually killing him. And then croaks cause of the poison (did he know it was poisoned or was that just the Errant being a dick?), was terrible. Brys is one of my favourite characters too so yeah, hit me pretty hard.

- Pella's death. Sure he didn't exactly have a huge part in the story, but just everything going through his head (while a crossbow bolt was blowing it apart) was really emotional I found.

- "There were clouds closed fast round the moon. And one by one, gardens died."

- When Rhulad is sitting on the throne in Reaper's Gale and thinks to himself, "I die and I die and I die, but where is my peace?". He's just so incredibly torn up after all he's gone through.

- Trull's death. I nearly tossed my book across the room. I was pretty damned upset. Also the first time the series brought a tear to my eye.

- When Rake dissolved and freed the Gate in Dragnipur. He selflessly sacrificed himself for his people and to get Mother Dark to start paying attention to her children again. Plus Draconus being moved made the scene more powerful cause everyone else in the series described him as being cold and callous. Second time I had a tear.

- When the Bonehunters were getting wiped out. Keneb gets blown up with his ribs hitting someone, Bottle pretty much sacrificing himself and feeling his sanity get torn apart, QB getting pulverized into a crater. There was just so much carnage going on, it was really sad to see all those characters die, though it only hit me after I finished the book and had time to sink in.

- Gesler and Stormy avenging the Bonehunters. Again, didn't hit me until after I finished the book, but yeah, got down.

Quite a few parts were emotional. Must re-read books, see if there are any other parts.